Ruined – A Wrecked Novel

A Wrecked Novel

July 2016

One of the Barnes brothers, Sebastien has always felt blessed. Not only does he have an amazing family, but he’s become a Hollywood golden boy who has everything he’s ever wanted—with one exception. He’s had a thing for Marin since he was a kid, but when he finally summons the courage to ask her out, she turns him down. Marin is ready to settle down, she wants commitment and stability, and Sebastien is still too much of a playboy, caught up in the wild life of the spotlight.

Still reeling from the rejection, Sebastien’s luck runs out later that night when he saves a girl from an assault. The shining knight role fits him just fine, but his armor—and his perfect life—become tarnished when the near-deadly attack lands him in the hospital. Physically scarred, he gives up acting and retreats from everybody.

If anyone can pull Sebastien back from the abyss, it’s Marin. But first she has to convince him that beauty is not only skin deep…

♦

“I’m not leaving you alone like this. You need to talk to me.”

“Talk…” He murmured it, turning the word over in his mouth as though he was unfamiliar with it.

He shifted, using his body to nudge hers around until she was the one standing with her back to the railing and Sebastien crowded in closer.

Warning began to sound in her head.

Not that fear sort of warning.

No.

Her head was sending out a different sort of alarm—it was going…oh, shit…

Sebastien caught her wrists, tugging them away from his face. She curled her fingers into her palms so that when he guided them to his chest, her hands were balled up into fists.

“You want to know what’s wrong, Marin?” he asked, pressing his face into her hair. “Want to hear all my problems? You’re so determined to help me out…is that it?”

“I…” She paused, taking a shaking breath. That breath exploded out of her when he pushed his thigh between hers. She thought she’d quiver and just wilt away when he placed one big palm on her hip and tugged her in closer to him, tucking her pelvis against his.

Marin’s brain started to melt.

Oh. Shit.

Against her hip, she felt his cock pulsing and in response, everything inside her began to heat and pulse in answer.

“See…” Sebastien’s lips were just a breath from her ear, his voice low and gritty and raw. “This is my problem. I’ve only wanted to sink my dick inside you for…hell, I can’t even remember when it started, but we’re talking years, sugar. Years. You get close to me and that scent of yours fills my head and it’s all I can do to focus. Now here I am, half drunk and focus is one thing I don’t have. I can’t focus. I just want fuck…and who do you think it is I’m wanting to…focus on?”

He caught her earlobe, tugged.

Marin sucked in a gasp. Without realizing it, she uncurled her fists, flexed, then tightened them again, now clutching the material of his shirt. “I either need to be inside you or unconscious and I know there’s really only one option. You made yourself clear enough last year.”

He pulled away, but not before he raked his teeth down her neck.

A hard shudder racked Marin all the way down to her toes.

It didn’t go unnoticed by Sebastien, either. His eyes gleamed, but all he did was put a few more feet between them. “You want me,” he said. “I think I could have you now. But you don’t like it. What’s really shitty is that you’re here because you feel sorry for me. I don’t need that, Marin. So just…leave. Please.”